RoAH:Return of A Hero
by BloodTrinity
Summary: A crossover between FoZ and FF7:CC.What will happen as Zack, one who has experienced death once, as he enters a new world? Would he be able to truly find peace? Or would chaos find it's way to him? OOC for some characters during some parts
1. Hero, 2nd Chance

_**Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Zero No Tsukaima or Final Fantasy 7: Crisis Core, They belong to their rightful owners.**_

_Zack (normal)_

_**Zack (Emphasize)**_

_**Zack (Spells/Skills Etc)**_

_Zack (Thoughts/Mind talk/flashback)_

Zack (Phone/letters/communication devices_)_

Chapter 1: A New Arrival

Somewhere in a distant land, an academy of mages is holding a summoning ceremony for their second year students. The Academy was most commonly known as the Tristain Academy of Magic, children of the noble were all sent there to study and learn the correct ways of using magic. In one of their courtyards, crowds of teenagers were gathered together in circles and were called out to summon their familiars in the middle of the circle. The variety of familiars that were summoned by the students was endless, ranging from birds to reptiles, mammals and common farm animals. And even for a selected few, creatures that only reside in myths and legends of the Common Era like dragons, griffons and the like.

The ceremony continued until it was a certain pink-haired girl's turn to summon a familiar. Though it was a fact that she was quite short compared to most of the second year students being at least a foot shorter than them and at the same time, a shorter temper too. And to give her a final touch, she sucked at magic. As in she really, really sucked at it. She's gained a nickname with her personality and skills…Louise the Zero, Zero Tolerance, Zero Skills and Zero Charm.

Just like the previous second year students, Louise stood in the middle of the crowd and started to chant the spell required for the summoning ceremony, hoping a secretly in her heart that she wouldn't fail even this spell.

"Hey, do you think Louise the Zero would even succeed in summoning a familiar?" whispered a blond-haired boy as he looked somehow frightful of Louise.

Just as Louise was chanting, somewhere in a distant world...

Flittering around the background in the lifestream were a few streams of green light...Mako, was what it was called. Two figures stood alone in the darkness with one of their back's facing the other. Slowly surrounding them were the seemingly endless streams of mako flowing around them, slowly surrounding them in big clusters only to disperse slowly once again.

"Hey Angeal!" shouted a spiky black-haired male who seemed to be in his twenties. He wore a black sweater, matching trousers, a pair of shoulder protectors, black leather gloves and combat boots, though to most people it would seem to be a company issued uniform. Facing him was the man who was previously called Angeal; he too has black hair and was wearing the same clothes but a size bigger.

"What is it Zack?" Angeal replied, turning around to look at his friend who was almost as tall he was.

"What's this weird green blob that's floating only a few centimeters away from the ground?" the man who was known as Zack asked.

"Huh?" said Angeal as he quickly turned around and stood next to Zack.

'This is? No it can't be…Might this thing be a real?' Angeal thought to himself as he eyed the green blob who a serious gleam in his eyes.

That was until Zack decided to poke the green blob…

"Zack, I'm going to give you three gifts that might help you along the way…" said Angeal, unnoticed to Zack, mako was quickly gathering in one of his boots.

"Whatcha going to give me now huh? I mean you already gave me tons of materia…and what do you mean by 'way'?"Zack questioned as he pointed to the lump of small orbs the size of a hamster in his pockets."

"I'm going to…give you the gift of life, the Buster Sword but the third gift is going to be a secret…"

"Huh?"

"Farewell Zack…I hope you live much longer this time"

"Wait, what do you mean Angeal!"

"Bye…"

Angeal looked up at Zack with an evil grin and shouted out loud," CHOCOBO KICCCKKK!" as he kicked his friend on the torso, in that instant, the Buster Sword appeared in Angeal's hands and dissolved into Zack before the force of the kick threw him into the portal which disappeared after it took in Zack.

"See you next time…Zack…" was what Angeal said as a single tear rolled down his cheek," We WILL meet again…I promise" Angeal whispered to no one as trails of tears covered his cheeks...

After being kicked through the portal by Angeal, Zack was still recovering from the shock of the attack. When he did, which took a few seconds, he felt weird and saw that his hands looked much younger, like how he looked when he was just a seventeen. Quickly moving his gloved hands to his left cheek, Zack was somehow relieved to know that the scar he had was still there.

But that was when he realized where he was when he felt the wind flowing against his cheeks before screaming in horror, excitement and curiosity as to why he was in the air, will he even survive the fall even though his a SOLDIER member and why did Angeal kick him. But the horror segment took over his brain and he started flailing his arms and screaming like a little girl (even though we didn't know he can).

While he was panicking, Zack materialized the Buster Sword in his right hand from his body, curious as to why there was a sudden yet nostalgic weight in his grasp. Zack turned to his right and laughed loudly at seeing the existence of his mentor's sword; he slowly held it with both hands and brought it towards his head in a prayer. "-your dreams…and always protect your honor, eh Angeal?"

Zack then strapped the Buster Sword at its rightful place, his back.

He finally calmed down, and started to plan his landing site.

_What's that small pentagon shaped thing over there? Seems like I'm falling towards one of its sections…Guess I'll just shoot down and pray my SOLDIER abilities actually save my life this time...Since I've done worst…_

_**-rab my hand!**_

_**I can't reach it!**_

_**Try again!**_

_**AAAHHHH!**_

Shaking away the depressive aura, Zack straightened his now-much-more-younger body, and dove straight for the Magic Academy, his speed increasing drastically. In a much deeper part of his heart, Zack secretly hoped his second life could much better then the previous. That was when he suddenly remembered what he wanted really badly when he was a fugitive escaping from Shinra.  
_  
Those white wings that Angeal had...I wanted th- _He was suddenly broken from his thoughts when, a pair of pure white feathery wings suddenly sprouted from his back. As though totally by instinct, the wings flapped itself slowly but with strength and pride as Zack's falling speed slowed down as he took the time to turned around. _WINGS! I GREW WINGS? _Zack exclaimed in his mind as he slowly descended while looking around himself.

Though he covered quite alot of distance, he still had another few hundred or so, metres to cover before he touches land. That was when he had a sudden urge to just crash land and try to get used to his wings.

_But then again, I know nothing about this town, the country or continent here. __Most of all I don't even have a clue what language they might be speaking in and hell, they might even think I'm somekind of a higher being beyond normal reasonings, or just a plain monster that's out to destroy them all._  
_A monster..._That was when Zack remembered what he told Genesis a few years back, the first time when Genesis showed Zack his wings...

_**I...am a MONSTER...**_

_**SOLDIER AREN'T MONSTERS!**_

_**Say what you like...for the morrow is barren of promises...We shall meet again...**_

_**GET BACK HERE!**_

_Though now that I think of it, it DID sound weird. At least a little to me now. _Zack then mentally reprimanded himself to NOT bring up past issues. Slowly retracting his wings, he decided the only possible choice with the minimum risk, is to just crash land. That was when one of the students in the academy saw a figure plummeting down from the sky, before it accelerated fast enough to catch fire and become a mini-meteorite.

Just as Louise finally finish her chanting, a figure smashed into the ground in front of Louise faster than an untrained eye to be able to follow.

As the dust slowly cleared, Zack opened his eyes and talked to himself," Ugh…rough landing…WHERE AM I!" to see himself surrounded by a crowd of teenagers with some of the females blushing at him for some reason. But the most nonsensical thing was that a pink-haired girl was looking at him with a slight blush before running to a bald middle-aged man and speaking real quickly in an unknown language…Looking up in the sky, he saw two moons. One was pink and the other was blue...both were in the sky even though it was the middle of the day.

_Ohhh boy...This is going to be a rough start in this new world for me..._

* * *

Louise thought that she might summon a griffon, a manticore or maybe a dragon if it was possible…

But never in her life has she thought that about the possibility in summoning a human, more specifically a black-haired teenager wearing weird clothes, carries an oversized sword on his back and speaks in a weird language that sounded like "Mgh…Laugh Manding…LAIR HAM EYE" to her. She quickly consulted Colbert-sensei who was the teacher in-charge of the summoning ceremony and asked him if such a thing happened before in the history of the school as she could not believe she summoned a commoner...or at least a handsome looking one that made her blush…

"Well Miss Valliere, from what I know…no such event has taken place before in the entire history of the academy so I'm afraid…I can't help you."

"But we don't know the effects of turning a human into a familiar!"

Just as she finished her sentence, the crowd started whispering among themselves and started getting rowdy.

"We know that you probably roped in that commoner over there to help you because you can't even summon a familiar!" shouted the blond-haired boy from before while he was hugging a giant mole. "That's not true!" Louise retorted although she knew it was probably futile since they wouldn't believe her. "If it isn't true then hurry up and finish the ritual already!" another voice from the crowd demanded.

"Lorry fart eye doh undinestand huat uo kais mare rocking a pout" A tick-mark appeared above Louise as she thought whoever said that tried to insult her so she chanted a silence spell and fired it at the direction of the voice…only to hit her familiar and blast him off his feet by surprise leaving a small cloud of smoke.

Still wide-eyed at what she done, Louise ran next to her familiar-to-be and checked his body for any wounds. (and staring at his well-toned body while she was at it, that includes the girls the in the crowd too, some of them had nosebleeds and fainted while the guys just stared in jealousy) After Louise tucked her familiar-to-be's shirt back in, she looked at Zack's face just seconds before he opened his sky-blue eyes and stood up.

Shaking his head in pain, Zack mumbled to himself as to why and how did he get into his situation again before saying, "Man…that hurts" to Louise just as she apologized. "Eh? Wait, you understand what I'm saying?" Zack asked Louise as he looked at her causing her to blush (again) and look away. "Of course I understand you, although I couldn't previously due to some reasons…My name is Louise Francoise De La Valliere and you are?"

"You can call me Zack." giving another one of his themed goofy grin, he kind of noticed that some of the girls surrounding him, mostly which are still in the crowd, have hearts in their eyes and he swore he saw one girl drool all over her mouth.

"Now, let use finish the ritual" said Louise with a blush as she moved in for the kill.

"Wha-" was the only thing Zack could say before Louise closed in for a quick peck on his lips and after that, she finished her chant and Zack felt his whole body warm up, it felt real nice…that was what Zack thought, until he suddenly felt pain on the back of his left hand and saw symbols being inscribed into his flesh with each passing second. "NNGGRRHHH" Zack grunted with a frown. He had to give it his all just to not yell in pain and destroy his image, so he held it all in with only short deep grunts.

Seconds later, the pain seemed to have stopped and looking at his left hand, Zack saw that in its place were a line of weird symbols. Just as Louise approached Zack to see if he was alright, Colbert quickly took hold of Zack's hand to study the symbol. The symbols formed letters for the 'word', 'ἄγγελος'. without noticing it was a little disturbing for Zack to let his hand be held by another male in the presence of girls.

_This symbol...first time I have ever seen this! I need to go to the libary later and search for information regarding these symbols. They might have some hidden meaning behind it..._ Colbert thought to himself as he looked **intently** at Zack's hand once again. Thinking his reputation as a man might be ruined, Zack casted his head down and sighed. "Um…Excuse me?" Zack asked Colbert as he looked intent to not give Zack his hand back.

"Yes?" Colbert asked as he looked up at Zack with a professor's gleam in his eyes, which kind of scared him for a second cause it reminded him of Hojo, glancing at his own hand Zack then glanced at Colbert, then back to his own hand hoping Colbert would get what he then followed Zack's glance and saw what he meant, as he quickly released Zack's hands to his relief he immediately introduced himself. "I apologize for my rudeness, my name is Colbert Jean, and you can call me Colbert-sensei."

"Zack, Zack Fair, you can just call me Zack" said Zack as he flashed Colbert another one of his trademark, friendly grins. Colbert then extended his hand just as he noticed Zack's eyes, as blue as the sky itself, but has seen horrors beyond the understanding of normal humans…The eyes that have seen death, seen betrayal and hope. Colbert wanted to know the story of one who is almost the same as himself.

Just as Colbert was thinking to himself again, Zack took Colbert's hand and gave him a friendly handshake, before noticing Colbert was spacing out again while staring into Zack's eyes, ok…this is getting REAL creepy…It's like his interested in my life story and wants to hear about it to do experiments…and why is it that only now I realize that everyone are in weird clothes…said Zack as he facepalmed himself. I mean robes? Maybe it's the culture of this world…But isn't it a little too primitive? But then, this world might still be developing, Zack finally snapped out of it when he saw Colbert return to his senses too and after both of them shook hands.

* * *

After that, Colbert decided to dismiss the students and proceeded to the library living only Zack and Louise in the courtyard.

"So...Zack, are you a warrior of sorts?" Louise asked Zack as she glanced at the Buster Sword. "Well, Yeah I suppose you **CAN **call me a warrior since I've been trained in swordsmanship...I think?" said Zack as he scratched the back of his head as Louise fired another one at him. "Do you know the difference between an aristocrat and a plebian?"

"Not, really..."

"Do I have to teach you, a commoner, better known as a plebian, how to talk to a noble?"

"Well,since I don't really know how this world works, Fine by me, please teach me about this world! I mean, my world didn't have a system like this." Zack finished off by clapping his hands together in a prayer and bowed down trying to please Louise.

"It's fine I guess, since a commoner like you actually bowed to me just for questions. And what do you mean you came from another world?" Louise asked Zack as she furrowed her brow, thinking that a mere plebian was trying to make fun of her, but she held it in with her short amount of patience.

"To answer your question, I have to say my world has only one moon. A single snow white moon that shines by itself only in the night, and not the day. And that I kind of got sucked into an emerald green portal which left me about two-thousand feet in the air." Looking at Zack suspicously, Louise decided to ignore what he had just said and just continue on topic.

He looked up into the sky at the two moons, although he was given a second chance at life. He was having mixed feelings...He thought about the pain angeal might be feeling right now. He remembered all those people he left behind when he was still escaping as a fugitive with his friend, Cloud. Tseng, Kunsel, The lady who created his fanclub, Genesis, Cissnei...and finally the love of his life, Aerith. He left them behind as he swam through the currents of betrayal and torment.

Without realizing it himself, Zack was louise's in a daze and Louise was snapping her fingers trying to get his attention. Zack soon realized he was treading on thin ice just by looking at Louise's facial expression. Which is a strained smile...Albeit a REALLY strained smile and the ice he was treading on just got even thinner.

"Back to topic, the difference between aristocrats and plebians are, their gift and their house." Louise finally continued as she finally felt that Zack's attention was back at him.

"What do you mean by 'gifts' and 'houses'?" Zack asked Louise curiously, not knowing what use they have.  
"Well let's start off with explaining 'gifts'"

"Yeah, Im listening."

"It's the ability to use magic, bend the forces of nature to your will, conjure a fireball or something like that."

"Oh...I can do that too!"

"What do you mean 'you can do that'?"

"Well, I mean I can conjure up fireballs and bed the forces of nature."

"Your lying..."

"Nope, it's 100% made of truth."

"Then show me!" Louise demanded as she felt this sudden urge to teach her familiar his place.

"Fine fine...Let's see...Ok, that tree will do." Zack took a few steps away from his target, namely a small pine tree and took a deep breath.  
"**_FIRE_!**" Zack yelled as he swung his left arm forward and a fireball the size of his skull came out of his palm and floated towards it's target. Once it made contact, what's left of it was a burning tree in which he quickly prepared his next spell to show Louise.

"_**Blizzard!" **_Zack swung his left hand this time, doing a quick motion from top to bottom, as though he was slamming his palm down on something irritating, a block of ice suddenly materialized above the burning pine tree and passed the rest of the work to Gravity and Energy. The second the block of ice made contact with the flaming pine tree, it melted and turned into cold water, which took out the fire.

After showing Louise a few of the basic spells that six-year-olds were even able to pull off , He turned around wearing a cheeky grin and looked his master, although it was hard to accept the fact, He had to face the truth. He had nowhere to go. So he hardened his resolve and decided to be her familiar for the time being. Looking at Louise, she had completely lose her marbles and were mumbling inchorent while staring at Zack wide-eyed, and mouth agape.

_Though I was given this chance to finally live a second life, I really can't help but feel depressed for leaving everyone behind...espiecially, Her... Maybe I could try to find a way that woud allow me to return to Midgar...And see her again..._Zack thought about that happenning and decided to make the best of it in this world before he could even find a way back home.

* * *

**Author's Notes**  
Hey guys, thanks for reading this fanfic that im making OuO though I kinda made Zack and Louise OOC right? Though i kind of made up some stuff on the spot...like putting random phrases from Loveless in and well, I don't really know how to describe their personality .

Heck, i don't even know if I got Louise's name correct D:. =.= well, practice makes perfect. Seeing as this is only my first fanfic, I beg for your forgiveness lol XD This story would be updated once a month. The latest being once every 3 months and the earliest being either 2~1 month. Though I hope i can just update once a month for the rest of this story lol XD. And well...I'm going to follow canon, but not entirely. Rate, and review

Omake: What happened after Zack left?

Angeal stood alone on the platform with the traces of mako streaming about. A single tear rolled down his cheek as he remembered, he stashed almost all of his life savings in the cabinet, in his hometown at Banora. Except for the fact that, he actually went back there to get his money, see his mother for one last time, and escape.

But his plan was interrupted, when his mother died from her sickness, he got blamed for killing her, he forgot about his 80,345,5634 Gil and his favourite gravure magazines were also destroyed in the fire when the town got nuked.

He felt this wrenching pain in his heart as he drowned his sorrows in the nearest pub located in the lifestream that he could find.


	2. Hero's first night

Sup guys, Bt here and with the 2nd chapter of RoAH: Return of A Hero. Guess I'm still going to release the chapter for those who want to even read it . Without further ado, you may begin reading…

Btw, I reupdated Chapter 1: Hero, 2nd Chance. I made some minor edits though . but i still can't find a way to make Zack look like his still in shock after being brought into the FoZ universe =.= *scratches head* so i'll just leave it at that.

And for those of you who were wondering if Zack would be using his wings to fly like it was normal. Answer is no, since I need to put in a few conditions for plot stuffs XD. Btw, the wings were a dead giveaway to what I'm going to make Zack into. No, there shall be no Gandalfs D: Maybe gandalfs for familiars of the other void mages much much later in the story but, no, not yet.

Considering the fact that Zack was already a combat specialist and he has speed, strength, agility and all the other stats that fighters/warriors have and need to have. I don't really need to increase his combat levels since that would kind of lead to this situation.

-testing area-

"Zack!" Louise cried as her familiar quickly rushed towards the golem and dodging it's strikes. "Damn! I can't find a weakness...Maybe this thing can only be taken down with brute strength?" Zack asked himself as he dodged the golem's incoming right arm with renewed agility and ran up it's forearm. "Take this you pile of dirt!" Zack shouted as he cut through the surface of the golem's arm with Derflinger, it only took another swing from him to completely destroy the golem's lower half with the shockwave that he caused by just swinging the sword at super sonic speeds.

-testing area-

And no one likes overpowered brutes, am I right? O_o *looks left and right* no answer? *stares at you* fine fine, i'll wait for you're response in the reviews =.=

* * *

**Review Response Time~**

**Revan193: **Yep, and HE WILL keep on surprising her with stories that he have(some might be made up by me) and his skeelz XD

**SirLagginton: **Well, I tried and I failed lol . and Zack's screaming like a lil girl part...uhh...Panic can dissolve years of training O.O And there are two reasons(personal) for me to give Zack wings. First of all, I'm going to make something original so he cant be gandalf, for he has already enough combat experience and parameters. Secondly, I wanted to fufill the wish that he had since FF:CC, which is...  
"Those Wings...I want them too" Yeah...that's the reason I gave Zack wings lol XD. Sorry if that doesn't meet you're requirements and stuff. And hey, I just started writing fanfics less then 3 weeks ago.

**Sefirot: **And I bring you the next update XD

* * *

"H-how..h-h-how...HOW THE HECK DID YOU DO THAT!" Louise yelled in surprise after recovering from her shock upon seeing Zack's display. "YOU AREN'T REALLY A MAGE ARE YOU!" She shot a questioning glare at Zack as he raised both his hands and slowly backed away, "Woah woah woah, Relax now Louise, it's not really that much of a special thing" He tried to calm Louise down, the Louise who can't even cast a single spell correctly...CALM her down by explaining the fact that almost anyone can use magic...

And the results were a really pissed off Louise."LIES! NOT EVERYONE IN THIS WORLD CAN USE MAGIC! THIS IS BLASPHEMY AGAINST THE FOUNDER!" Louise pointed a finger at Zack while ranting about how the founder found magic, saved the lands and etc.

She then looked at Zack once again and paused, before opening her mouth and asking her question. "How do you equip it?" said Louise as a question mark appeared above her head and Zack face vaulted after realizing his mistake. "Sorry, guess I forgot to teach you the basics…"

Reaching his right hand into his pocket, he promptly searched for something and after a few seconds,"Ah HA!" Zack exclaimed as he held a bluish materia in his right hand. "Now let you teach you the process, it's reeaaal easy, you just have to do this" Zack slowly 'pushed' the materia into the palm of his left hand and it went through slowing emitting a gentle glow through his flesh. "Now you try it!" said Zack as he grinned.

Louise looked at the small orb in her hand, as she took a deep breath to steel her resolve. She slowly imitated what Zack did by slowly pushing the materia into her left hand. But the results were unexpected. The materia didn't enter her hand but instead just remained in contact with her skin, but not melting into it or anything.

"What is the meaning of this Zack?" Louise asked as she turned to her familiar. "Wait, let me see it" Zack approached Louise and tried helping her equip the materia. Keyword being tried.

"My guess is that the body structure of you guys are really different from those in my world..." Zack mused as he scratched his head in confusion after several tries in trying to equip the materia for her. "Though it works fine for me." Zack responded after he equipped the materia with no troubles.

"I guess once a zero...always a zero..." Louise mumbled sadly to herself as Zack unequipped the materia and turned to her. "You said something?" Zack asked while tilting his head. "No, nothing...It's going to be dark soon, it's going to be cold. So let's get back inside..." said Louise as took a glance at the setting sun and started walking towards the entrance for the dorms. "Come on, move faster already!" said Louise as Zack started walking slowly,"Coming, coming..." Muttered Zack as he rolled his eyes and came after Louise.

* * *

A few hours have passed and the sky was littered with multiple twinkling little stars next to the presence of the two moons...  
In a specific room at the third floor of the dorms, A raven-haired teenage boy and a pink-haired girl were quarrelling together...

"What do you mean I have to wash all you're undergarments?" Zack shouted as he had a stare-off with Louise.

"Because you're my familiar! And familiars do what their masters tell them to do without any qualms!" Louise barked back as her stare hardened.

"I thought you aristocrats have you're own servants in the dorm, if so why do you need ME to wash you're laundry!"

"Why should I even rely on the servants working for the academy when I already have a familiar that could do all the manual labour for me?"

"I swear in the name of gaia that you're personality changes every minute!"

"What do you mean by that? And who's gaia!" Louise growled as she stare instantly changed into a hard glare and Zack cringed a little at the sight of it.

"Ahhh! Even bowing down to you and staying humble has a limit!" Zack shouted as he started stomping towards the exit of the room.

"Wait! Where do you think you're going!And you haven't answered my question yet!" Louise shouted as he opened the door to the exit.

"My dear mistress, you have already breached the line which you should'nt have breached at all...And I'm going to run away...For now!" Zack barked out the end of his sentence as he quickly slammed the door and bolted for the stairs that led to the first floor which was the lobby. While hearing a war cry from Louise that made his hair stand on it's ends, he quickly increased his speed.

* * *

Making a swift decision, he jumped down the last few steps and did a barrel roll, he hearing some voices to his left as he was about to touch the ground. "-I would love to taste some of you're handmade souffles, my one and only true love, Kate..." Zack quickly stopped the momentum of his roll and stood in a half-kneel position beside a small fountain out of view, and looked at a blonde guy having a conversation with a brown-haired girl near the stairs.

_That guy...he was at the summoning ceremony this afternoon, he even had a few laughs at Louise too..._ What he noted other then the face of that guy was that there was a color difference between both of their cloaks. Years in SOLDIER had taught him that different colors for a specific cloth wear, **might **differenciate different levels, skills, ranks and etc.

_The blonde's in a purple cloak while the girl's in a brown one, and if i remembered correctly, Colbert did mention that today was the 'spring time familiar summoning ceremony' for the second years. And everyone present today were wearing purple cloaks, so if my observation is correct, second years wear the purple cloaks. And at least this information is better then nothing..._

As he finished assesing what little information he had, the conversation continued as the brown-haired girl spoke to the blonde. "Guiche-sama, I would be delighted to let you taste my handmade souffles, I would bring you some of them tomorrow at tea break. Is that alright?" said the girl named Katie.

Before Zack could eavesdrop for anymore useful information, his heightened senses pick up angry stomps and curses directed at him. He was about to wait for Louise to arrive and confront her, but then suddenly he had a gut feeling that he **might not **really want tostay around and wait for her. He dashed for the door to the outside, which was only a few metres away. _Always there...Just another metre! _That was when a yell echoed throughout the whole of the lobby.

"GET BACK HERE YOU UNFAITHFUL FAMILIAR!" yelled a fuming Louise as she clenched her wand tightly and ran down the stares as fast as she could, attracting Guiche and Katie's attention. "Nu uh! I'm going independant from now onwards! I'm not going to be a familiar to a girl who disregards gender and age issues!" Zack quickly casted **_Haste _**on himself and ran out of the building into the courtyards.

As his eyes slowly adjusted to the night sky, Zack tried to keep up his speed and escape the academy via crawling over the concrete wall that seperates the academy of magic from the outside world. "FREEDOM! I CAN ALMOST TASTE IT!" Zack yelled like a madman as though he was confined for years, although it was just mere hours. Not to mention the air in Tristain was supposedly filled with the scent of flowers since it was spring...Oh the irony.

Being careless and letting his guard down for a second, Zack tripped on an unseen pebble and fell head first to the ground. Although the SOLDIER program allowed him to shake off the damage like it was nothing, it still shook his brain causing him to have much slower reflexes, buying the pursuing mages enough time to get to him. "Levitation!" Guiche shouted out the name of the spell as Zack was lifted into the air against his will. _Aw crap...Back to the slave drivers room I guess. Better tried escaping then never... _Zack thought to himself as he got lifted back into the dorms by Guiche who was talking to Louise.

* * *

"Hahahaha! First time I saw a familiar run for his life from his master...HAHAHA!" Guiche laughed out loud as he started holding his ribs,"I- Hahaha! -can't...HAHAHA Breathe!-HAHAHAHA" Louise, who was standing next to him was beet red at having Guiche laugh at her, so she tried to retort. "Shut up Guiche! Get him back into my room and get lost!" Louise shouted with a high-pitched voice as they neared her room, of course with Zack floating in the air behind them, still struggling.

When Guiche finally decided to stop laughing and let Zack down, he helped Louise tie him up and laid him on a pile of hay that a servant prepared under Louise's orders. Just as Guiche was about to close the door upon his exit, he poked his head back in and stifled a giggle before quickly closing the door. Mili-seconds after closing the door, a thick reference book came into impact with the door as loud laughs could still be heard from the hallways.

Flinching when Louise's attention was shifted from the door to him, Zack started to sweat bullets as Louise closed in on him. Staring at him with her death glare, Louise revealed a sadistic smirk and pulled a hazel-brown whip seemingly out of nowhere. "Look's like it's time for some punishment..." She slowly raised her whip over her head as she stood in front of the now tied-up Zack.

"U-um Louise c-can we ta-alk about this in a c-civil like manner?" said Zack as he gave an awkward smile knowing full well it's a do or die situation here. "Ho...so you want to talk in a civil like manner eh?" Louise narrowed her eyes as she lowered her whip and took a few steps away from Zack. As she went into a thinking pose, Zack visibly relaxed a little.

"Hmmm..." Louise pondered on the subject for a few seconds, it felt like hours to Zack, fearing his punishment. And as he saw the look on Louise's face, his heart sank as deep as it can into the sea of despair. Once again wearing a sadistic smile, Louise gagged Zack with a random rag that she found and once again rose her whip above her head.

Muffled screams and shrieks of agony were heard throughout the dorms that night, some thought it was just their imagination, some thought there was a ghost in the dorms...But only two people know what happened in the dead of the night. It was also the day, where Zack learned that not all the girls in the world or dimensions can really control their temper. And to never provoke Louise and or escape from her again, as it might detriorate the already bad situation.

* * *

An hour before the first rays of light shone through the kingdom of Tristain, Zack woke up from his makeshift bed after having a weird dream and remembering what happened last night, nothing a Cura can't heal. But he still shuddered at the mere thought of enraging her again. He slowly yet silently started stretching his sleeping muscles before beginning his light morning work out which consisted of squats, push ups and sit ups.

After finishing the last of his sit ups, he noticed that he was starting a sweat alittle before opening the windows and letting the early morning breeze do wonders on his slightly overheated body. He stood in front of the window and watched the morning sunrise. Sighing a little he did a quick review on the recent events and could only sigh as he looked at the Buster Sword which was leaning against the wall next to his 'bed'

Looking out of the window again, he saw the rising sun and decided to wake Louise up for breakfast since he was instructed to do that after the beatings had ceased.

_"Better wake me up the second the sun rises you unfaithful familiar!" Louise barked as she stopped her onslaught after releasing all her pent up frustrations on poor Zack and untying him. "Y-yes, Ma'm!" Zack stuttered as he sat upright in front of Louise's piercing glare. After switching off the lights, changing into her sleeping attire and leaving her laundry in a basket next to the cabinets, she slid into bed and covered herself up. Zack shook his head for being a feminist and having a soft spot for them._

_Drawing out curaga, he unequipped Quake and started to heal himself back into a better shape. Glancing at Louise for one last time, Zack unhooked the Buster Sword from his back and left it leaning against the wall next to his hay pile. As his head hit the hay, he slowly difted to sleep thinking about ways to learn more about this world._

Moving to the side of Louise's bed, Zack extended both arms and held onto Louise's shoulders before shaking them gently as he spoke,"Louise, wake up. It's morning already, you're going to miss breakfast if you wake up late...I think?" Zack tilted his head to one side as he said the last part. "Nggh...hhmm? Who are you and what are you doing in my room?" Louise reached for her wand and Zack was engulfed in an explosion that was big enough for only an adult human.

As the smoke cleared, a soot covered Zack stood there staring at Louise with a deadpanned expression that says, You forgot about me just after one day?. Noticing the look he had, Louise cleared her mind and picked up the bits and pieces. That was when it suddenly hit her as she remembered yesterdays events. "Oh! You're the familiar I summoned yesterday!"

"Oh geez, the second day and you forget my name already, all knowing mistress of mine." said Zack sacastically as he rolled his eyes. "Who I forgot about you're name! Let me change my clothes before we leave, Zatch." Louise smirked internally as she thought about how great she was if she even bothered to remembered her handsome familiar's name. Realizing what she just thought about her familiar, Louise quickly shook her head to get rid of the blush and waited for Zack to help her change her clothes.

Zack face-palmed as he quickly reminded the pinkette his name,"Hey Louise, it's **Zack Fair, **ok?" Waving him off, she looked at Zack as he looked back at her, both of them exchanged stares before Louise asked her question."What are you waiting for?" Zack raised an eyebrow and responded to her question with a question."What are YOU waiting for then?" Louise shifted her line of sight from Zack to the cabinet that held her change of clothes and her undergarments then shifting it back to Zack who rose another brow.

"You really don't want to change you're own clothes do you?" Zack asked as he gave her a slight frown with her repeating the words she said last night. "Why should nobles do their own work when they have servants to do it for them?" Zack gave a long hard stare at the cabinet as though it was his greatest enemy, slowly approaching it, he chose her undergarments by random and took out a neat stack of her uniform complete.

Placing Louise's change of clothes next to her on the bed, he proceeded to tie a blindfold on his forehead, only pulling it down concealing the world from him, he started the hellish process of taking off her underwear and putting on fresh ones on her, as he was working, a small trail of blood trickled down his nose.

After finally putting the cape on for Louise, Zack took off his blindfold without wondering why didn't he take it off and make life easier for him after he buttoned in her shirt. He pondered on that question for a few seconds, before shrugging and hooking the Buster Sword on to his back. Approaching the door, he found Louise waiting for him with the door open while tapping her foot impatiently against the floor.

Both of them left the dorms and strolled towards the dining halls with hungry stomachs, wondering what was going to be their breakfast...

* * *

"Ok...This is worst then having to eat SOLDIER issued rations that would probably taste better then this piece of bread, period" Zack muttered to himself as he starting chewing the cold, hard, stale bread. That was not really refilling his lost energy, but having some is better then none. "You know you should be glad that I even allowed you to enter the dining hall, familiars usually stay outside of the dining hall whenever a meal is in process" Louise huffed as she finished swallowing a piece of steak.

After breakfast was over, Louise brought Zack out to one of the courtyards where the second year students were gathered at and were having some sort of a tea break. "Hey Louise, why are all there students gathered here?" Zack asked as Louise turned to face him and replied."Today is a day off for all the second years for them to bond with their familiars and increase the trust between the both of them." Zack just did an 'o' with his mouth as Louise just sat down on a chair and Zack wandered about the courtyard.

Feeling something creep up to him, Zack quickly spun about to find himself face to face with a levitating eyeball that had wings. Blinking a few times, he decided to see if his 'natural' talent was still working,"Hey there little guy, how's you're day?" Zack asked as he looked at the familiar in front of him. Hearing a few soft shrieks, Zack nodded and replied."Yeah, I know that she has a bad temper and all but we can't really judge people since we just met them right? uhhh What's you're name?"

After a few shrieks that was meant as a respond Zack broke into a grin,"Hey, nice to meet you too Kazum, hope we can be great frie-" before Zack could finish the last sentence, he got hit squarely on his flank by a salamander and flew towards an unsuspecting black-haired maid.

Hearing a cry of surprise, Zack landed on the ground with a thud while wondering what, or who did he get flung into, "Oh man...That hurt..." He quickly stood up and turned around as he heard groans from behind him. Looking at the maid who was kneeling on the ground frantically trying to pick up a sponge cake that fell probably when he hit her. Quickly took in her features Zack focused on her hair and eye color. _Black hair and onyx like eyes...Seems to be of Wutainese heritage to me, but I can't really assume..._

Moving quickly, Zack approached the downed maid and helped her up after she finished collecting the fallen pastry."Thank you very much" the maid bowed quickly before frantically trying to continue what she was doing previously before she got hit. "Hey wait" Zack held her by her shoulders as she turned around asking him,"Yes, What seems to be the problem?"

"Well, I could help you out if you even need any helping" Zack waited patiently for an answer as the maid eyed him up and down before having a tinge of red appear on her face after stopping at his face. "My name is Siesta, you are?","Zack, Zack Fair. You can just call me Zack because I don't really like being formal and all those other things." Zack gave her one of his signature smiles as she pondered on something.

"Well, if you could, please help me deliver this tray of desserts to that table over there" Siesta pointed to the table where a male blonde was seated with his back facing Zack and a female blonde who was having a conversation with her seemingly fellow blonde. "Ok, you can go ahead and do you're other things while I deliver this." Zack waved her off as she thanked him again before reentering the kitchen.

Approaching the table, Zack sat the tray down on the round table and distrubuted the plate which held the cake. Just as he was about to leave, a voice called out to him. "I would like a refill for my tea, on the double" Turning around, Zack recongnized the owner of the voice as Guiche who wasn't even looking up when he gave the orders. Seeing him talking with the girl seated oppersite to him.

"Oh my dear Montmorency, You're beauty is like nothing I have ever seen, you're perfume are the work of the founder himself, you-" Zack decided to intervene seeing that he remembered making a promise with the girl he saw last night and flirting with another girl today. "Well, too bad cause I'm not exactly a servant so you're tea might arrive a bit behind schedule" Zack announced as he saw Guiche turn around and reveal an astonished expression.

"You, you're Louise's familiar who tried to escape yesterday! Like his master, he must be incapable too..." Guiche whispered the last part to Montmorency who was more then willing to laugh at Louise's failure. "Yeah, well...we'll see about that" Zack just took off ignoring Guiche ranting about the improper ways on treating the nobles. _I will treat you with the respect that you deserve if you would only treat others with the respect that they deserve...Although I can't really say that to Louise, her 'horse' is higher then any other..._ sighing once again, he started his search for Siesta to return the tray that he took from her.

Just as he saw Siesta and was about to advance in her direction, he saw someone interesting, that could trigger an event. He saw...Katie! One of Guiche's female friends that were tricked by him. She looked like she was searching for someone as she looked left and right holding a box. Then Zack remembered what he overheard last night and grinned evilly to himself as he walked towards the brunnette.

"Excuse me, might you be looking for Guiche?" Zack asked politely after stopping in front of Katie with an innocent grin. "Um, yes, Might it be that you know where Guiche-sama is at now?","His just right over there" Zack pointed to the table where Guiche and Montmorency were seated at and proceeded to return the tray to Siesta while stifling a few giggles.

* * *

A few minutes later, two loud resounding slaps echoed throughout the courtyard, wanting to see the results of his plan. Zack quickly approached the table where Guiche was at, which was surrounded by a crowd now. Just as he arrived, he saw Montmorency and Katie leaving the scene with Guiche clutching his artificial rose saying,"Ah, the two lovely ladies do not know the life of being a rose that needs to satisfy the girls of the world..."

"You mean you're a master of two-timing?" Zack shouted and Guiche turned towards his direction."Hey Guiche, seems like you're cover finally got blown!" a plump boy from the crowd shouted as everyone started laughing. "You...YOU!" Guiche started as Zack put up both his hands and responded,"Hey hey Guiche, now you're after guys too?" Another guy shouted from within the crowds and everyone laughed again.

"Hey man, wasn't me" Zack grinned sheepishly as Guiche narrowed his eyes and looked at Zack with distaste."You, lowly familiar...I challenge you to a duel!","Why do I have to duel with you?" Zack looked at Guiche as he clutched his rose even tighter then before. "No questions familiar of zero, I will be waiting at the Vestri court. Come if you dare" Guiche then walked off as Zack just looked at his retreating back. _Arrogant kids...But at least I get the chance to show him his place, that's better then nothing... _Zack smirked just as a certain pink-haired girl approached him.

"What do you think you're doing?" Louise asked as Zack just looked at her while grinning,"I'm going to knock him down a few pegs, maybe get him to respect you while I'm at it." Zack then turned towards a plump boy and asked,"Hey, You know where's the Vestri court?" "Ho, so you're really going after him? Well, go west from here and past through those two other courtyards and you're at Vestri" the plump boy responded as Zack gave his thanks and started advancing towards the given location.

"Malicorne! Why did you do that?" Louise shouted as she glared daggers at the plump boy before running off to stop Zack from doing something stupid.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

Thx for reading I guess? XD Reviews are greatly appreciated OuO btw, the battle with Guiche is going to be on the next chapter, the 'performance' too when Fouquet attacks the tower ^^ and I typed all these out in the span of 6 hours after being side tracked by my anime forum, facebook and a load of other stuffs

Once again I thank you for you're patronage XD

-BloodTrinity

* * *

Omake: Metal Gear Fair

Zack's front roll quickly came to a halt as he hit behind a crate, with no weapons other then the Buster Sword and loads of materia, most of them which cause big booms. Obviously unsuitable for a stealth mission like this.. Shaking his own head at his misfortune, he quickly peeked over the top of the crate, making sure his raven-black hair was held down by his bandana and was blending in to the night sky. He vaulted over the crate and started making his way towards the wall which was one of the key objectives to his freedom.

Steathlily ducking into the clumps of waist-high grass and weeds, he watched the area for guards, civillians and or any other things that could alarm the forces pursuing him. Seeing that the coast was clear, Zack doved out of the grass and started a mad sprint towards the wall. Tripping on an unsuspicous rock, he felt his Phoeniex summon activate on accident, bathing the area with a totally epic CG cutscene which included fake fire and explosive fireworks.

And as he was suddenly levitated by an unknown force, after being found out. He heard people randomly screaming his name like he was in some spy, action, espionage game that has something related to robots. Then as everything slowly faded to black, a blue panel box appeared out of thin air and told him that he acquired a Phoniex Down.

"Zack? Zack? ZZZAAACCCCKKKKK!"

**Game Over,****Continue?**

**Yes**

**No**

When Zack woke up, he found out he was just having a dream, and shrugged off the thought that it might be his sixteenth attempt to escape the academy already although it was just the second day for him. Shrugging, he stood up from his hay pile and proceeded to wake up Louise for breakfast and started doing his warm ups...

* * *

**Preview**

"You're not even worth making me serious with you're arrogant attitude..." Zack finished off the last few Valkyires without even drawing the Buster Sword.

Zack focused on casting _**Quake **_to prevent the golem from escaping and to rescue his master,"Hang in there Louise!" Zack shouted as the materia glowed brightly.

"Would anyone want to volunteer for the search party?" Old Osmand asked as he stroked his beard, eyeing the mages(SOLDIER 1st Class+1) in the room, waiting for a response.


	3. Hero Vs Noble edited

Third chapter for RoAH: Return of A Hero, I hope you guys enjoy the story. And yes I wrote the whole thing in a rush =.= Hey, you can't blame merh D: I read fanfics from morning till the wee hours of the following day, then I sleep around 6 hours, wake up, start reading fanfics again. So you can't blame me XD. Read and Review~ It helps writers more then you think!

**NOTICE: **Sadly this is not an update, for those who have read this chapter before please skip to the author's note at the bottom of the page

**Review Response**

**willi890: **At least you got my point about the overpowered melee skills/strength and stuff OwO

**Lucaris: **Yeah, gonna make my own plot after a FEW more chapters :D. Most probably after Volume 2 of the Light novel, but I could just try mixing the anime and the light novel's storyline lol XD. That might be fun O_o

* * *

The rumour of a noble challenging a commoner to a duel had already spread itself through the school only minutes after Guiche's declaration to Zack for a duel. Large crowds of students were already gathered in a circle surrounding the two duelists by the time Louise arrived, some were placing bets on Guiche and quite a few placed their money on 'The commoner'.

"I admire you're courage and bravery for even accepting the duel and coming...For a commoner" Guiche then gave Zack an arrogant grin that made Zack chuckle.

"What's so funny?" Guiche asked as Zack chuckled even louder then before. A few of the students in the crowd were starting to believe that Zack had some serious mental issues.

"I demand an answer from you right now! Commoner!" Guiche demanded as he started to feel nervous, fearing that he might be up against a man who had lost his sanity.

Suddenly stopping his laughter, Zack looked at Guiche smugly with a mischievous smirk."Well, since you demanded an answer, oh high and might noble. The low standing and harmless commoner me, was just laughing at you're choice in opponents" right as Zack finished his sentence he hardened his stare.

Guiche's grin was instantly replaced by a nervous scrowl that tried to find out the hidden meanings behind Zack's words, wondering if Zack was referring to him or his natural choosing ability.

Just as the two duelists were exchanging comments and stares, Louise was still trapped outside the barrier made of students. "Excuse me, please let me through" Louise asked politely as she hopped a few times trying to see what was currently happening between her familiar and Guiche.

She tried to find an opening that could allow her petite frame could sqeeze through, but to no avail because everyone were too engrossed with listening to what the two duelists were saying, they totally ignored what she was uttering.

"..." Louise stopped hopping and tried pushing her way through the crowd, which was a bad idea because the student she was trying to push past retailated by shoving her away with his elbow with a,"Go somewhere else, short stuff"

That insult ignited something in Louise, something that she thought was long gone, something that she thought could only by ignited by her family's rival. What was ignited...was her height complex, which in turn ignited her rage, which finally...Made her want to blow shit up.

"What did you say?..." Louise growled as a tick mark appeared on her head and started to pulse. "You called me short?" She finally snapped and whipped out her wand, muttering the incanation for fireball. She aimed it at the boy who shoved her aside and then all hell broke loose.

"Heh, I probably won't even need to use my sword" Zack taunted Guiche as he unhooked the Buster Sword from his back and stabbed it half-a-metre into the ground next to him.

"Don't try to underestimate me too much commoner...You might get injured, and after I beat the snot out of you, I'll prove that Zero Louise's familiar is a zero like h-" Before Guiche finished his sentence, an explosion came from behind him and he bit his tongue.

"Whath happened?" said Guiche as he quickly turned around to see a pile of students, who were fortunately knocked out cold by Louise's explosion, unfortunately got knocked out by Louise's explosion. "Well at least the crowd isn't that loud now" Zack commented as Louise climbed up the pile and placed one of her foot on the summit of the 'men-made' mountain, while panting.

"Ha,ha,ha, No one calls me short!" Louise yelled from the top of the mountain, 'men-made' mountain, causing Zack and Guiche to sweatdrop at her antics. Finally snapping out of her rage after a few seconds, Louise descended the 'men-made' mountain and finally stood in front of Zack.

"Zack Fair!" said Louise as Zack cringed noticebly at the tone she was using,"You will apologise to Guiche right now!" After she finished her speech, Louise then shifted her sight from Zack to Guiche. "And you!" It was Guiche's turn to cringe at Louise's bellowing voice.

"You will stop this nonsense about dueling my familiar and stop dating so many girls and choose one already-" Guiche then quickly interuppted, "But I am but a rose, to be ad-" "Don't give me the rubbish about you being a rose to be admired by girls!" Louise cut him off again.

"Fine, but I must tell you I will still duel with that commoner familiar of yours no matter what!" Guiche retorted as he went into his stance. "You know the rules that say we cannot duel on school grounds!" said Louise as Guiche gave a stuck-up smirk.

"Yes it did, but only between nobles. What is happening now is a duel between a noble and a familiar" Louise was taken aback by what he said, quickly mentally reviewing the rules again,_'He's right! The school rules don't allow nobles to duel against each other, but it doesn't say that nobles can't duel against familiars!'_

"Heh, don't worry about it Louise. He won't even put a scratch on me and if I won, it will raise you're reputation as a master of a familiar who defeated a noble" Zack whispered the last part to Louise as she started contemplating. A few seconds later, she looked up with a worried expression, "Ok, I allow you to duel. But if it gets too hard then give up, pride isn't more important then you're health"

"What? My cute and beautiful master is worried about me? I'm flattered, thank you very much" said Zack as he did an exaggerated bow in front of Louise which caused her to blush a little. "Y-y-you stupid familiar I'm j-just worried about safety b-b-because it'll be troublesome for me when you get injured too badly!"

Looking at Louise with a small smile, he shook his head to clear out the unnecessary thoughts and wiped the smile off his face. Facing Guiche, Zack tugged on his leather gloves to tighten them and crouched down low.

"Well, seems like the match is gonna start soon, could you please leave the arena now?" Zack asked Louise as Guiche swung his rose-like wand and a petal detached from it, floating in the air gracefully for a few seconds before glowing and in a flash, it was replaced by a female warrior-like figure.

"What is that?" Zack raised an eyebrow as the 'female warrior' brandished a bronze spear and went into stance almost instantly after Louise entered the crowd to watch the duel

"Oh, I forgot to mention it didn't I? My runic name is Guiche the Bronze, and that is Valkyrie. A golem made of bronze and incidentally, it will be you're opponent!" Just as he finished his declaration, the golem rushed forward in a burst of speed towards Zack, who quickly redirected the incoming bronze fist with his left hand.

Not wasting anytime, Zack quickly smashed the lower abdomen of the golem with a bone-crushing punch, before freezing up in pain,"Ow ow ow ow ow! Damn this thing's armor is hard!" Zack exclaimed as he clutched his right hand while miraculously avoiding contact with the Valkyrie's spear and hook-punches.

"Ohhh yeah...It's payback time!" Zack yelled as he lunged himself at the golem created a cloud of dust large enough to cover both of them.

**KRACK!**

**CLANG!**

**CLACK!**

Something suddenly flew out of the dust cloud and hit Guiche in the chest,"GAHH!" Guiche exclaimed as he realized he was holding the decapitated head of his Valkyire. "Whew, it almost had me there. Though I'm almost super human, that doesn't mean I can go against something that isn't human"

The cloud of dust subsided and Zack stood there letting out a sigh of relieve, while the decapitated bronze head rolled off Guiche and he stood up red-faced.

"You...How dare you do this to my lovely Valkyire! Let's see how you'll do against five of them!" Guiche yelled he conjured another five more Valkyires in front of him. "Show him his place!" Guiche pointed his wand in Zack's general direction and the Valkyries charged full force at his adversary.

"Well, I'll take back my word about not needing to use the Buster Sword, but I have to admit. You're still as cocky as ever!" Zack sprinted to his sword and tugged the Buster Sword out of the ground just as the first of the Valkyries reached him. Parrying the lance with his right hand wielding the sword, Zack increased his strength for an instant, pushing back the Valkyire.

When that happened, he sprung forth and landed a haymaker on it's face which dented it in, while kicking off from it's chest and going for the second Valkyire that has already prepared to engage Zack in combat. "I'm gonna finish you tin-cans off!" Zack pounced at the golem, swinging the Buster Sword at it's chest level. Right as he cleaved through the chest of the bronze golem like butter, the remaining three Valkyires gathered up and charged at Zack together.

In that split second, Zack's brain went into overdrive mode and thought about his current options, _use a spell and make up a lie about me being some kind of a 'special' mage...Or use a materia that enhances or dishes out physical attacks?...Weapon effect materias I guess? And I had already equipped **Firaga Blade** before this, so alls well..._

Looking at Louise who had a worried expression, Zack gave a smirk to reassure her that he was doing fine and quickly changed his stance. Moving his legs apart, Zack held the Buster Sword with both of his hands in a batting position before letting out a battle cry and rushing towards the three incoming golems.

An instant before they made contact, Zack activated his materia **_Firaga Blade _**and swung the almighty Buster Sword with it making contact with the left shoulder of the Valkyire closest to him before slicing through it's torso and breaking the remaining Valkyies' lances and melting the bronze materials that made contact with Zack's sword.

Using pure physical strength, Zack redirected the Buster Sword's path and in less then a second it had already passed through both of the remaining bronze golems and only left melted bronze in it's path. Seeing as the golems were obvlously dealt with, Zack glanced at Guiche and gave him a mischievious smirk.

"So, do you want to give up willingly, or do you want ME to go over there personally and 'help' you?" Zack asked as his face split into a sadistic grin at the word 'help'.

Guiche was sweating bullets as he looked at Zack, long gone was the smug and prideful him. Replaced now was a scared young noble who was willing to change sides just to save his own hide. Pride or Safety? Guiche would definately choose the latter. "I-I Yield..." And so he did

Swinging the Buster Sword, Zack spun it around a few times with his hands before returning the sword back to it's rightful spot, but not before he deactivated the materia, stopping the sharp edge of the Buster Sword from glowing red and emitting heat.

The crowd that was surrounding Zack and Guiche broke into cheers that praised Zack of his courage, bravery and skill. While moments after they stopped cheering, all of them gathered in a line standing in front of Brown-haired boy and started claiming the money they won when Zack won. Going up to the brunette, Zack wiped off a little of his sweat before grinning,"Hey Randall, how much do I get?"

The brunette, now named Randall turned towards Zack and gave him a thumbs up,"Zack, you helped me cover about three months worth of expenses...you're gonna get 5% of the share!" said Randall as he started searching the large sack he had next to him for the bag of gold that was reserved for Zack.

"Eeehhh, Only 5%? Come on Randall, you know you can give me mo-" before Zack finished his sentence, Randall lugged out bag full of gold and placed it at Zack's feet. The bag was was five-times the size of Zack's fist, and before he could even continue where he left off, Randall decided to tell him how much was 5%.

After a brief declaration and explanation of how much money could buy him specifics stuffs...

"So you're telling me that I earned 650 new gold which could let me easily buy a mount or a small shop to sell things?...Wait, why is it that a mount is almost as expensive as a small shop?" Zack asked confused while thinking what kind of similarities that mounts and shops have

"Now that you mention it...I don't know, it had always been that way for uhh...years?" Randall replied before both of them shrugged and Louise approached Zack. "How did you do that thing with you're sword?" Louise asked, her eyes sparkling with admiration. "

"Yes, how did YOU do it, Zack?" Randall decided to take the chance to ask Zack and the reply both of them got was,"Trade secret" Zack finished it off with a wink. Making Louise blush a little from embarressment and Randall sweatdropping before Zack decided to get back to the dorms with Louise.

Some distances away from the pink-haired mage and her familiar, there was a red head who smirked to herself mischieviously as she looked at Zack just as he disappeared around the corner , _Hmm...Zack Fair... _

* * *

Meanwhile inside the restricted area of the libary that was only for teachers, Colbert was searching for information that was related to Zack's familiar runes. _Let's see, ancient legends of lore. No, the legend of Windalf? Doesn't look like it, neither does the Gandalf's runes match this. Next section I guess?_

Putting the book back into the self, Colbert lowered himself down to ground level and went to the next shelf, seeing a book entitled 'The founder's legend', looking at the book again, he shrugged and retrieved it before going to a nearby table for some reading.

A few hours later when Colbert reached the page that had the description of the founder's companions, he found out that one of them only had a brief description without any details of how the founder met him. Only that he was the first to join the founder on his journey but Colbet's eyes widened at the sketch of the runes that were said to be on the companion's left hand right before he quickly scanned the rest of the page and had to hold back a gasp.

_'The runes match, but what is more surprising is that they both have the same family name. How can that be possible? Is he a descendant?'_ Colbert thought to himself before he stood up and made his way out of the libary. _'The headmaster needs to know about this'_

* * *

It was a sunny day when 5 year-old Zack was digging through his family's storeroom to find something interesting just because he was bored. After a few minutes of random digging and shoving, he found an old and musty and he scratched his head as he opened it.

It started from the first page where there was two names linked together, and another line going down from the middle of the connecting lines before dividing into 4 different lines which were linked to 4 different names.

Then he noticed that the next several pages were marked with the 4 names on the top of the pages.

Not understanding what it meant, Zack went to ask his father for more details. "Oh, so this was were the family tree was at all along?" His father finished with a chuckle before flipping to the 9th page with the name 'Brandon Fair' on it. "Hey Dad, am I in this thing?" Looking at his son, before giving a tender smile he pointed at the line and traced it down to the row that was labeled '19th generation'.

"Well, I forgot to add you in when you were born and I left the book some where in the house and...uhh...yep, I forgot it was in the storeroom" Sweatdropping at his father's antics, he started counting the names from the first page as he saw the number of names that were listed under '18th generation' which was on the tenth page he found out he had four uncles and two aunts before they went their seperate ways and lost contact with each other.

"So Zack, do you want to know the family legend of the first Fair who was your great times-fifteen-grandfather?" He smirked mentally already knowing what would Zack's answer be,"What legend does he have?" Zack responded quickly before starting to get hyper like a puppy...

"Well, it was told to me by my grandfather, Ian Fair. So this was how the story was told to me when I was you're age. This story happened a long, long, long time before-" Before he finished his sentence, Zack interuppted. "How long?"

"Before you and I were born"

"Before Shinra was even here?" Zack asked curiously

"Yep, before Shinra was even here...so let's continue with our story...A long long long time ago, in place faraway from gongaga, midgar or even this continent. An infant was picked up one night during a storm and..."

* * *

**Author's Notes**

Sep 24th 7:07pm GMT+8

Edited alot of things in this chapter but no, I'm not dead neither am I dropping this fic anything soon. Just that this period of time is going to be my finals so can't really get much writing in(Though my previous promise about uploaded 3 chapters at once stands, I'm done with the 1st one now)

I apologise for those who came here all hyped up about an update and shit(That happened to me quite a number of times too btw, rushing to my favourite fic and clicking the latest chapter only to realizes it's an announcement or edit) So I'm really sorry, to make it up for that I'm probably going to add a few Omake's below this chapter after the original one.

Though you guys can submit in your own Omakes :D(Crossovers are allowed, crack is allowed and character death... just keep it low O_o)

I might go with the novel version of the Fouquet arc if possible and Zack's still gonna get Derflinger, albeit his abilities might change.

Btw, I'm just gonna take the FoZ's currency as 100 new gold= $500, so I apologise if any mistakes happen *bows*

And below heres the Omake, enjoy it.  
Thx for reviewing after reading

* * *

**Omake: What if canon Louise resummoned Saito again and got him, and a random character from the anime universe?**

"LOUISE!" Saito cried as he jumped out of the portal cutting down the 'wolf' that was attacking Louise.

"S-saito...is it really? really you?" Louise asked in between sobs, being too joyful of the return of her familiar, she didn't notice another figure exit the portal. At least not until Saito heard a mumur that went,"Where am I? Hng...too troublesome to be figured out" that was when he finally noticed the [erson standing behind him.

**"**Hey wait, who are you!" Saito asked the pineapple-haired man who was standing behind him, glancing between Louise and Saito before turning on his heels and muttering a loud,"Troublesome" before disappearing into the portal.

"Wait, Japanese? WAIT!" Saito cried out as he reached out to the pineapple-haired man to turn around just as he disappeared back into the portal. "...NNNOOO!" Saito cried out in despair as the surrounding 'wolves' took advantage of the opening and pounced on him...

* * *

**Omake 2: What if Negi from Mahou Sensei Negima was summoned to Tristain with his whole class**

It was just another day of teaching his class of magically aware students, yep, Negi had a class full of students that all(almost) had a pactio with him. It was just like every other day until a large jade-green blob appeared on the ceiling in the middle of the room. Negi, knowing what happens when you go near stuff that _magically _appear out of thin-air, was about to warn his students before they all got sucked into it. '_I knew this was going to happen!' _Negi cried mentally as the class was sucked in with more than a few of the girls screaming.

Needless to say as the members of Ala Rubra landed in the courtyard in Tristain, the plan that would be known as,"Negi-sama's World Domination Harem Plan" was hatched as Haruka put the pieces together and figured out that they were surrounded by mages...in a land...filled with mages...that were easily tricked into something...

**6 Years later**

"Negi-Tousama!" Hundreds of little children chorused as they literally flooded their father with hugs. Needless to say, Haruka manipulated the people and voila, shit happens. Not to mention her plan worked...Too well...


	4. Rock Paper Scissors

RoAH: Chapter 4: Rock-Paper-Scissors

Update:10/1/12, fixed some typos and increased the length :D

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in this chapter other then Randall and the fictional town of Avirrals

RoAH: Return of A Hero  
Chapter 4: The small town of Avirrals

* * *

As the sun shone down on two figures riding on horseback towards the town of Avirrals; one of them decided to open his mouth.

"Tch, 'not that far' he says" Zack mumbled under his breath as he rode on a borrowed horse next to Randall who was accompanying him for the trip.

"Hey! I can hear you, you know? It wouldn't have had be _THAT_ far if we just rode on my gallant Grundoll, and you were the one who dragged me off here in the first place!" The brown-haired mage replied," Rather, I still can't believe I lost to you over such a childish game!"

"Well, I can't believe you actually wanted to sit on a Griffin, a brown furry hybrid capable of clawing your limbs off in seconds!" Zack retorted, ignoring the fact that Griffins have more feathers than fur.

"Besides, you were the one who insisted on rematches and hey, what are friends for if you don't help them out?" Zack asked Randall with a cheeky grin as Randall sighed once again for the umpteen time in the last hour.

"What do you have against Griffins? It's not like they have the ability to burst out of crates or treasure chests whenever you try to open them!" Randall retorted. Which made Zack go into flashback mode.

_**[Flashback]**_

Zack walked up to a treasure chest surrounded by scrap parts. "I wonder whats in her-" He could not finish his sentence because a Griffin had burst out of the chest and started attacking him.

It did not help either when it happened another three times...

**_[Flashback_ End]**

"N-no what makes you think that they fit into treasure chests? I didn't mention that did I? Did I?" The fear of meeting a monster-in-a-box was much more noticeable in his voice as his eyes darted left and right.

Randall was about to comment on Zack's frantic panicking just as he caught sight of the town they were travelling to from the hill they were on now.

"Hey, Zack! I see the town we're going to reach...there...soon?" Randall trailed off lamely as he looked at the sight of Zack staring off into blank space mumbling about monsters being stuffed into chests. "Ok..." Randall leaned towards Zack and started snapping his fingers in front of his eyes.

"Hey Zack you there? Zack? ZACK!" The browned haired mage shouted right into the Ex-SOLDIER's ear; just as the Zack finally paid attention.

"You were sayin-"Zack was interrupted as Randall, not knowing that Zack has started paying attention again, yelled with all his might,"CAN YOU HEAR ME?" into his ear.

This only resulted in hurting Zack's ears as he clutched them in agony. "OH GAIA, IT HURTS!" Zack yelled just as his steed started increasing its speed down the road.

"Zack, hey wait up!" Randall made his horse go faster in order to close in to Zack's, both not noticing a sky blue-reptile flying in the air observing them.

* * *

"Ho, so this blasted familiar actually dared to leave the academy without my permission and just to go to a town?" said one of the three figures riding on a blue-scaled Dragon.

"Maa~ He probably did that just to spite you, Zero-chan" Kirche said as the now identified Louise turned around with a scowl.

"What did you mean by that, eh Kirche?" Louise replied as a tick-mark appeared and started twitching as Kirche opted to ignore her for her nails.

At least until one of the comments that Louise made hit a nerve, a nerve that was buried real deep and down in the hearts of the females who belong to the Zerbst family.

"...No fighting in the air..." Tabitha said as she looked up for a second from her book at the two rival mages.

"...Fine, I'll let you off this time Louise since Tabitha said so" Kirche said before she turned away with a huff.

* * *

"Where is this weapon shop at?" Zack asked as he followed Randall from behind, looking around the shops seems to be labeled by the signboards.

'_pretty primeval if you ask me'_ he thought to himself as Randall took a turn into an alleyway, "Still looking for it, swore the last time i saw it the shop was right about, here it is!" Randall approached the door with a sword displayed in it's signboard.

As they entered the room, the first thing they noticed was the dusty outlook, "The owner doesn't clean up very much does he?" Zack mused as he start looking through the shop for his ideal weapon.

_'The weapons in the display cases don't seem to have much durability though' _Zack thought to himself as he approached a barrel full of swords.

"Welcome to my humble shop! May I help you?" said a voice just as an old man appeared behind the counter, correction, sleazy looking old man.

"Nothing much, just looking for some weapons" Randall replied as he thought to himself, _'Oh for Brimir's sake, the owner of the shop just HAD to look like a scammer. With the odds as it is, he probably is one...' _He sighed mentally as he heard the shopkeeper speak.

"Well, what may i interest you in? Sword; axes or bows? Just ask away" the shopkeeper said as he glanced at the huge sword that was on Zack's back.

"Say, do you happen to have any broadswords? About the size of this one here but slimmer and more compact?" Zack asked as he held up the Buster Sword which combined with Zack's height and its own length, almost broke into the ceiling.

"Please wait" The shopkeeper said as he went into the room behind the counter and came back holding a shiny sword covered by an oily rug. "What about this one?" He asked as he spread the rug on the counter.

"This is the best thing I have although it may look fragile; it's made by the famous Germanian alchemist Lord Shupei. See this inscription here? It can cut through metal like butter because of the magic infused in it!" The shopkeeper proudly pointed at the words on the handle, "but that's something reserved for very strong men because the recoil from the blows of this sword is powerful. If not, just wearing it on your back can make your feel proud and gazes will be on you everywhere you go because everyone would be envious of this shiny sword."

Zack walked closer, his eyes surveying every nook and cranny of the sword. "That sword looks really powerful." Zack said as he tapped it with his finger but mentally,_ 'It only looks powerful, probably would break after a hard swing from me'_

That was when someone or rather _something _decided to voice it's opinion on the sword, "That, a sword? Hehe heh he HAHA HAA HAH! You got to be kidding me if that is the average standard of swords they make nowadays" and the voice came from the barrel Zack was looking through previously.

"Hey, stop talking trash when I'm trying to sell something to a customer here" the shopkeeper shouted towards the barrel in anger as the voice started laughing again, "Hahahahah! Sell? Scam might be the appropriate word your searching for" before it paused as the shopkeeper started sweating bullets.

"Hey! You! The one in the weird black clothes" the voice started again.

"Me?" Zack asked as he pointed at himself with a questioning smirk while approaching the barrel to search for the source of this voice.

"Yeah, you seem to be quite adept with swords and I can definitely see experience with the way you carry yourself, though you seem more like a fighter then a swordsmen."

Right when the voice finished its sentence, Zack identified it as a sword.

A rusty broadsword that was practically a smaller version of the Buster Sword, except it had a weird-pommel that would clack and clank whenever it talks.

Giving a small 'hmm' Zack held up the now silent talking sword and examined it from different angles.

"You know you're making me blush just by looking at me everywhere right?" said the sword as the pommel looked as though it had a red hue on it.

"Hmm...What is your name?" Zack asked after he stared at the pommel for a few seconds"

"I don't really have a name, but my old partner used to call me Derlflinger" The now identified Derlflinger replied

"Derlflinger, eh? Nice to meet you, name's Zack Fair and I guess I'm going to be your new partner eh?" Zack said with a smirk as he turned towards the shop owner. "How much does he cost?" Zack asked the shopkeeper.

"Well for that, I'll just let you have it cheap" raising a single finger he smirked as he said, "Just 100 new gold"

Zack took out his wallet from his pocket and counted the correct amount before putting it onto the counter.

After careful counting, the shopkeeper finally nodded. "Thank you for your business!" the shopkeeper said with a wry grin as he sheathed Derlflinger after taking it out of the barrel and gave it to Zack.

"Don't say I didn't warn you but this guy is real annoying. If he gets noisy, just shove him back in the scabbard and he'll shut up."

Zack nodded and received Derlflinger from the shopkeeper with a smirk, "Will do". He said as he turned around and walked towards the door with Randall in tow.

Three figures watched Zack and Randall leave the weapons shop from the shadow of an alley. Louise watched the two from the shade as she fiercely bit her nail.

"That useless familiar, although he helped me raise my reputation by quite a bit doesn't give him the right to go out without telling me. What the heck? And whose that guy with him?" Louise turned around and looked at her accomplices as she stomped the ground in anger.

Tabitha, her job done, was reading as usual.

Kirche was just ignoring her as her eyes followed Zack and Sylphid circled around the skies above them.

They had followed the two here soon after they'd spotted them.

Kirche waited for them to walk far away before she ran into the weapons shop with Louise following closely behind her.

The shopkeeper stared at Kirche as if he couldn't believe it. "Whoa, two more nobles? What's going on today?" '_Usually it's hard to even get a single customer' _the shopkeeper mused to himself.

"Hey there, boss…" Kirche played with her hair, a charming smile in her lips. The shopkeeper's face turned deep red under the sudden seduction as his eyes slowly moved down from her face.

"Do you happen to know what that commoner and noble bought not long ago?"

"A s-sword… he bought a sword, the commoner bought it but his noble companion was just browsing through."

"I see… so he bought himself a sword… what kind of sword?"

"A d-dirty and rusty one."

"Dirty and rusty? Why?"

"Because he thought it was interesting."

Kirche put her hand to her chin as she started thinking out loud. "Interesting? How is a rusty sword interesting?"

"Uh… is my lady here to buy a sword, too?" The shopkeeper perked up, not willing to let go of the chance to sell another one of his wares.

_'This noble looks much more rich compared to the previous one, her pink haired friend looks like she's quite wealthy looking too.'_

"Hmm, sorry but no, I'm kind of in a hurry here" Kirche said with an alluring smirk as she walked out of the shop while swaying her hips, "Come on Zero-chan unless you want to get left behind" Kirche said to Louise who was still fascinated by the variety of things that can be used as 'weapons'.

Ignoring the jab at her, she followed her red-haired companion out of the store leaving behind a sighing shopkeeper.

_'No such luck I guess...'_ The shopkeeper thought to himself as he went behind the shop just like before he was disturbed.

* * *

_Later that night_

Zack stood outside of Louise's room after having a long conversation with Derlflinger after testing out the Intelligent-Sword, which was finished with a promise the ex-SOLDIER made to the talking sword.

Pushing open the door with one hand after turning the knob, he was greeted with the sight of Louise and Kirche bickering at each other as Tabatha just sat on the bed reading and ignoring the verbal insults and shouting the pink and red haired girls were throwing at each other for the benefits of her book.

Zack blinked once before raising his hand, "Uhhh..." He started dumbly as all three of them turn towards him.

It was then Louise looked down and her fringe covered her eyes, just as her face suddenly darkened and a shadow appeared behind her before slowly turning into the outline of a demon.

"Where did you go all day, Zack?" She asked with red eyes that glowed through her fringe and a _really _scary smile.

Seeing that she was about to quite literally _blow _up in anger, Zack backpedaled before opening the door and diving out of the room just as an his previous location was engulfed in smoke from an explosion that happened.

Quickly picking himself up; he started sprinting towards his goal, which was the open window at the far end of the hallway while dodging his master's attempts at murder.

"Where do you think you're going you stupid familiar!" Louise shouted as she chased after the ex-SOLDIER with only hatred and annoyance powering up her wand.

"Somewhere safe, where I won't get blown up because of everything I said!" Zack retorted as he finally reached his goal.

Placing both of his hands on the sides of the large window; Zack flung himself out into the open air which was three stories high.

Figuring that running as fast as you can in open space is much more better than dodging debris and destroyed objects indoors; he ran across one of the courtyards and focused on getting out of sight before Louise reaches ground floor and catches up to him.

Finding a giant pot that had a few cracks, Zack decided to use that as a hiding place as not many people would bother checking giant pots.

He quickly left the Buster Sword and Derlflinger, with strict instructions to stay silent, in a nearby bush as he dove into the abandoned pot and strained his senses to see if he was still being chased down.

* * *

_Meanwhile with Louise_

Panting slightly from the chase due to lack of exercise, Louise arrived at where she had last seen the raven haired warrior after he jumped out from the third storey window.

Grumbling to herself slightly in irritation, she scanned the area for her familiar before dismissing the only possible hiding place, a pot, as nothing.

Taking off in another direction, Louise paused for a moment when she felt vibrations from an unknown source.

Deciding to investigate the source, she started running towards the general direction of what was causing vibration, reaching the court where she felt the most shaking from.

What she did not expect to see was piles of soil and rock melding and joining together slowly forming a gigantic figure towering almost as tall as the tower it was created next to.

_'An earth golem? Why would someone create a golem in the middle of the court late at night?' _Louise thought as she tightened the grip she had on her wand.

It was then that moment that she noticed a figure standing on one of the golem's shoulder gesturing towards the tower.

Heeding its master's commands, the earth golem smashed one of its massive fists onto the walls of the tower creating a shockwave that travelled though the court. As the shockwave travelled past Louise, she could practically feel her insides shaking and being jumbled up.

"Gyah!" Which in turn elicited a yelp of surprise from the pink-haired mage as it was not everyday that you come across a tremor strong enough to rattle you as though you were placed in a jar.

Opening her eyes after she closed them in reflex, she looked up only to see the earth golem and its master face her direction with their eyes _seemingly _gleaming in the darkness.

Just she was about to scream for help, she was hit by a _**Silence **_spell by the mage who created the earth golem. Taking a step back as she prepared to run like there was no more tomorrow, one of the golem's fist closed around her and lifted her off the ground...

* * *

_With Zack back at his new hiding place, the Pot_

At this point of time, Zack had already relaxed and was just thinking about what he should do with his new life now.

His thoughts ranged from trying to get himself a to creating his own mercenary unit in Tristain.

Although the latter might end up with him being hunted down by more people than appreciated.

Feeling slight tremors coming from a nearby court, Zack poked his head out of the pot before cautiously exiting his safe haven to investigate the cause of the tremors.

Scratching his head slightly in confusion, thinking that he heard a voice yelp almost an instant after feeling another round of vibrations. Shrugging, Zack picked up the Buster Sword and placed it back onto its magnetized holster after a few swings. He then picked up Derflinger and after some adjusting, both Derflinger and the Buster Sword were vertically strapped to his back next to each other.

Making his way back to the nearest set of stairs, Zack had just passed the door when images started appearing in his mind and started playing like a movie. Non of it made to sense to Zack at all, at least until he caught sight of pink hair at the corner of his 'view' and his eyes widened. _'Am I looking through Louise's eyes?' _

Louise's view started tilting left and right, not unlike the action people do when they try to fumble something out of their pocket or coat.

Recognising the tower that was shown party in Louise's sight, Zack sprinted to a nearby court and looked up to see the girl he was looking for. Pink hair reflected a little light in the darkness as she struggled for something. Which kind of explained why the vision he saw was from a high vantage point, she was held in the hands of a golem that was the height of the tower.

Drawing Derlflinger, Zack hoped that the golem or its master who was standing on it's shoulders wouldn't notice him.

Luck was on his side as the golem had its back facing him and its master was too preoccupied with something to even check his surroundings. Studing the golem and looking for weak points like cracks or loose soil (Good thing the he was awake during the lesson on 'How to take down an enemy mage's creation'). Finding two of his intended targets, Zack homed in on his target which was the left knee of the golem and started unleashing a dual flurry of attacks with Derflinger and the Buster Sword.

The knee finally collapsed under the strain of the attacks and with too much of its weight laying on only it's remaining leg, the golem fell forward as Zack went under the arm holding Louise and cleaved it off with a _**Climhazzard**._

Quickly grabbing Louise as she fell out of the disconnected limb, he retreated some distance before putting her down...

* * *

**Author's notes and random stuff**

...Don't butcher me...Please? D: Not sure if I'm going to continue this fic though...

* * *

_**Omake**_

_**'The Game'**_

* * *

"Rock, Paper, Scissors!" two teenagers swung their right fists out together at the same time, one of them showed paper while the other showed rock. "Rock beats paper Randall, and that means that you'll gonna bring me to the town you mentioned yesterday for some weapon shopping" Zack said as he started to walk away.

"Oh, not so fast, Fair" Randall said as he looked up with gleaming eyes,"Best eight out of ten!" He declared with his manliest tone of voice ever as he got back into the basic Rock-paper-scissors stance.

"Seems like you just won't admit defeat will you, you ignorant fool!" Zack said with an air of superiority around him," Then I shall teach you manners young grasshopper!"

Zack too went into the stance and readied his fist,"Rock...Paper...SCISSORS!" the two males cried as one as they swung their respective right hand forward...

_Fifty seconds and 7 victories later_

"I- I can't believe I lost to you in a game that relies on luck and memory more than anything in this world!" Randall cried as Zack patted him on the shoulder and turned around towards the horizon before he started walking away.

"Daybreak tomorrow morning Randall, don't be late!" Zack said as he 'disappeared' into the setting sun.

* * *

_**End**_


End file.
